A Whisper and a Clamour
by ClassyMuse
Summary: After an unusual patrol, taking out bio-terrorists, BM and NW bring back with them a new wounded vigilante they have never seen before but know its style of fighting all too well. REVIEWS PLEASE! Last chapter rewrite, however complete.
1. House of Wolves

I never liked stake outs, especially in the pouring rain. I was never one to stay still and watch for hours and hours. I also didn't like the silence that came with it. I did a lot of thinking and there were a lot of things I didn't want to think about. I didn't want to think about the past life, what happened four years ago, what I did during those four years and why I left the man who took me in when the odds were against me six months ago. Then there were the thoughts about what could've been, what I should've done and other existential things that put people, especially me, in a funk. The rain didn't help. This was stuff people about to go into a mid-life crisis thought about, not a seventeen year-old. Then again my actions could warrant my age to be called mid-life. I didn't have the luxury of being a typical mopey teenage girl. I had work to do.

I really did try to focus on the docks, the ones that were supposed to be closed at this time in the night. I had heard a rumor around the fish market, where I spent my time in the daylight hours to make some extra cash, that there was a special shipment coming in around the wee hours of the morning that was to be taken to the reservoir. I didn't think much of it since I knew my boss was also a big time drug dealer. I had a colorful night life so I knew that this 'respected' fish boss had connections to the crime lords. I would listen around to his regular visitors, the ones that show up to the smelly place in fancy suits, and hear some things that my last guardian would call 'trouble'. For the last few months I heard things about a shipment of an item that they were going to put in the city water. It was modified to have short incubation and was stronger than what was going on in Africa.

I may not have been in a classroom since I was thirteen but I learned a lot from the papers and books I snuck out of the library. I knew the HIV virus didn't work like what the thugs were talking about. They also mentioned waiting until summer when the 'carriers' would be more active. About a month ago they finally dropped more information that made me break out the Kevlar suit and hood, modified leather jacket and clean my baretta; these guys had a shipment of containers filled with the Plasmodium falciparum vials. These guys contained malaria and the severe kind out of Kenya. Oh boy, bio-terrorists. What were they after? Money, obviously. They had the cures and they knew damn well people were going to die for it.

I waited out in the rain watching them. The last few nights they were just doing small operations and getting ready for their shipment to arrive. I could have started tearing it all down then but they would move elsewhere and I would have to start all over again. I hate repetition. Despite the pouring rain I could hear well. I could hear that douche my guardian wanted to kill back in the day walk up behind me. I kept my eyes down at my vantage point, pulled out my baretta and pointed at Nightwing behind me. "This is my operation. Back off," I said coldly. I am pretty calm around anyone who gets in my way which I have found can scare the living shit out of anyone. The thing that makes it even scarier is when the lighting is just right and it shows off my more feminine features. Nothing can scare people like a woman with a gun, other than The Batman.

He continued to walk towards me and knelt down beside me. My gun was still stuck on him but like my guardian said it takes a lot to scare Nightwing, the Golden Boy, unless you were my guardian of course. "Back off whoever you are and get your psyche evaluated. You can't beat these guys alone." Spoken like a true boy scout.

"I assume you're also going to try to tell me that taking them out for good is a bad idea too?"

"I don't know too much about you but I know you can kill," he said gesturing to my baretta.

"Not exactly my style. I only…hurt those who intend to hurt others. These are bio-terrorists. I am going to take them out before they can harm the innocent."

"What else do you know?"

"Go back to that loft you call home or to the Bat and find out yourself."

He ended up staying and watching with me, even though I stated that this boy had worn out his welcome. A large boat had stopped in the middle of the harbor and a smaller one docked. Two huge crates accompanied by my fish market boss were on it and they began to move the crates. A moving truck pulled up and that was when my train of thought was interrupted by the first Boy Wonder. "So what is your plan of action? Just shoot them all?"

Groaning I actually looked at this guy. "That and do it quick," and I pulled a grenade out of one of my jacket pockets, "and take care of the problem with some materials that go boom, but first a distraction." I threw that grenade as far as I could and it landed so nicely about fifty feet from the truck. Just enough to scare them, I thought. I hopped down and ran across the shipping containers heading to my target. These guys are going to think twice, I thought.

I could hear him again. Jeez, Nightwing is an annoyance. I figured if he was here I might as well use him. My Kevlar was getting worn out so he would make a decent body shield. He did his fancy acrobat flips to dodge whatever was shot at him from the scum ahead of us. Me? I like to face things head on with my guns in front of me taking careful shots at the bad men, not wasting ammo. I made sure they had shots where it wouldn't kill them but would rather make them suffer. Legs, arms, shoulders, sometimes in the back are where the bullets hit. After that it is a matter of knocking them out and subduing them that made it pretty fun. I am fortunate to have had the training to fight without arms. Weapons were great but I hated cleaning blood off them. I could see Nightwing from a distance in hand to hand combat. Silly boy, I thought, that's not how you get the job done.

He finally grabbed the guy and head-butted him to the ground. Nightwing was good but his methods of taking out the criminals were too nice. I heard a crash of a door closing behind me. I knew the truck was open when I started this shutdown. Nightwing ran over and offered to open it up first. I didn't object. If it anything something would jump right out and take him out first. Chivalry is not dead! He threw open the door and we found evidence that something big and strong was in there. The floor boards were cracked and the side panels had traces of blood. There were chain bolts in the back, broken.

Before I knew it I was hit, thrown, and tossed against a shipping container. I got a better look at what hit me and for once I was scared. I knew it wasn't Amazo but it was just like it what I have been told: Big, strong, and aggressive. Nightwing was already on the thing trying to take it down until I shot a few bullets at it to scare it. It did nothing but call its attention to me. _Ah fuck_. I called Nightwing off him and we both ran from the scene. "Was this part of your plan?" he asked as we ran. I could hear the thing lounging toward us. "No but it could always be worse!"

My new plan involved using Nightwing as a distraction. "You keep it running, I will go up top." The first chance I saw a crane I threw and launched myself as high as I could get. I put away the small guns and pulled out the baretta, aiming for one of its legs. It would get it down to the point where I could see if I could ask it some questions. The shot was quite affective and the thing went down almost immediately. I lowered down from the crane and walked to the creature and what I saw was horrifying. It was transforming into a human being. It was like you were watching Mr. Hyde die and left behind was Jekyll's frame. Nightwing jogged back and looked down upon the man with pity and knelt beside him.

"He's going to need some medical attention." Nightwing was not only the Boy Scout; he was the goddamn troop leader. I was caught off guard when the man reached up and had Nightwing by the throat. The man was transforming back into the massive thing it was before. The process I might add was not pretty. I could've left Nightwing but I guess I had a little girl scout in me too. I jumped its back and wrapped my arms around its throat trying to distract it from killing Nightwing. I could see that he was losing his color and hear some stuff crack. All my fighting pissed off the creature because it threw Nightwing about fifty feet into a container. I reached up, grabbed me by the collar of my jacket and threw me hard onto the concrete.

At this point I was so thankful for my guardian's training in dealing with pain. I was able to move away as the creature brought both its fists smashing to the ground. For a minute I feign being knocked unconscious so it would go away. That turned into a bad idea because it walked towards Nightwing and picked up his limp body. It threw him again.

I had had enough of beat down. I wasn't going to lose this one to some brawny giant. I ran to the thing, took one big jump and roundhouse kicked it square in the jaw away from his victim. Chuck Norris would have been so proud.

The thing backed away, shying from the pain I had inflicted. I braced and prepared myself for another hit, but the creature stood up straight, staring blankly into the distance, like it was frozen. I ditched it and went to Nightwing's side, just to see if he was alive. Alive meant less blood on my hands but also meant the annoyance was still going to live another day. Oh the double edged swords I deal with. Yeah the Boy Scout was alive, but barely.

And then I felt fire and pain, pain that I had only experienced once before, ripping through my side. _Fuck my life! _I doubled over on my knees looking wildly for the gunman who made the shot. I sat for about ten minutes with my hand on my side to slow the bleeding and then found myself laying on the cold concrete. I looked down at the gun wound. I was hit where one of the Kevlar plates had been worn out.

My vision went all to hell in a blur but I could make out a figure standing above me and then I felt a needle in my right bicep. _Oh dear god, he did not just give me what was in those crates! _With what strength I had left I pulled out my knife and lounged up from the ground, stabbing whoever was above me. I could see the figure fall to the ground beside me with a thud and with one more surge of adrenaline I tossed my last grenade near the crates. I could make out the explosion and sighed with relief. Other than the creature which I would leave for The Batman to deal with I was happy with a job well done.

I felt the pain all over again and fell back onto the ground. Nightwing was still out cold so I crawled my way to his limp body. I nudged through his belt for a telecommunication device. My guardian told me the whole Batclan had them and they had two channels, one to their headquarters and one to the police department. I grabbed it from his side and called The Bat. This injury was out of my league to heal myself. I pressed a button and struggled for breath. "Nightwing? What happened?" I could tell it was The Dark Knight form the voice. I had heard it before from a distance. "Nightwing!"

"He's out cold and injured," I croaked.

There was silence on the other end and then, "Who are you and what happened to Nightwing?" He was getting angry.

"We are down at the docks. Bit off more than we could chew. I am shot and he is going to need help."

There was silence again. "I am on my way."

**NW's POV**

I came to and felt like I was hit by train. Nothing unusual for me but I noticed my utility belt had been messed with. I turned onto my side and saw her laying in a puddle of blood with my telecomm-device clutched to her chest. She had to have called someone, and I hope she didn't call Gordon first. The creature we had fought turned back into a man with a knife in his hip and there was a fire about fifty feet away. The crates that she was trying to destroy were gone now. There were a couple of bodies lying around too. My night went from a boring patrol to this chaos. I wish chaos didn't hurt so much but it is part of the job.

I rolled over, since standing was out of the question at the moment, and checked her out. I know she saved my life if not prevented affliction, but I was pretty bad at returning the favor. She had been not only shot but kicked around like I had and had a syringe in her arm. She was breathing but all in quick shallow breaths.

I heard the Batmobile around the corner and the frantic steps of The Batman running towards us. He assessed me first. "Are you able to stand?" I nodded and grabbed his arm to get steady on my feet. "What happened?"

"I can explain the details later on the way, but she needs to get to the Batcave and have Leslie take a look."

He looked down on her, "She would be better off in the hospital."

I knew he meant well but this time his logic had a flaw. "No."

"Then why does she need to go to the cave?"

"Simple, she saved my life, took out that thing, stalked out these bio-terrorists and took care of the job and no one died," I said, gesturing the whole scene. "The last thing I'm sure she needs is her identity to be revealed and judging by her methods some prison time for doing some good. And then there is that." Batman noticed the syringe too. He pulled it out and stuff it away someone in his suit. "I know that whatever it was in that was what she was after and she got away destroying it most of it."

"I guess you are going to ask about him?" He asked, pointing to the man/creature thing laying on the ground.

"Nah. I will call Gordon on the rest."

"Just get in the car. But when all is said and done she is your problem."

When they got to the cave Leslie and Alfred were waiting for them. Alfred took Dick and lectured him about his missions and Bruce and Leslie worked on their new guest. First thing they did was remove her suit and asses the bullet wound and inject a sedative, in case she would wake up. "She's going to need blood. I know you have some," Leslie said to Bruce. They learned more as they patched up the exit wound and saw an anomaly of scars on her back and shoulders; one gun shot and several other traumatic scars. They attached an IV to her arm and noticed tattoos spelling 'Kyrie' on her right arm and 'Elasion' on her left.

They carefully removed her hood to get an idea of who it was they were saving. "She's pretty," Dick smirked trying to relieve the tension. She is indeed, Bruce thought. It looked like her face had some history too with one scar across her left cheek. She couldn't be any older than twenty, he thought. When Alfred was done working on Dick (who only had minor sprains and a concussion) he helped and loosened their guest's tight auburn French braid.

Leslie removed the bullet and patched up her side while Bruce did an analysis of what was in the syringe.

Once the results came in they were both appalled. It wasn't just any kind of malaria infection, but a mutated one. It was faster and more aggressive and it was starting to take effect. "I will come back later with large doses of quinine. She is going to need all the help she can get," and with that Leslie left. Bruce and Alfred moved her into the manor all the while symptoms of infection were becoming prevalent. She was shivering violently in bed and sweating profusely. Bruce was really hoping that Leslie would return soon. Alfred tended to her while Bruce and Dick did their research on her, what was really going on by the docks and the infection that was already wreaking havoc on her frame.

What impressed Bruce and Dick was that they had a fairly new vigilante who took out bio-terrorists. Her methods weren't ideal but at least they weren't like Jason's, he thought to himself. There wasn't anything in the criminal or security database with her tracks on them. There were a few silhouettes from the past four years and that was it. When they got on the malaria topic they knew they were in for a long haul to keep her alive.


	2. The Struggle

_**Hey readers! Reviews are strongly recommended! Posting two chapters in one day will not happen again so be patient as I get this done and finish school/move/pack/work. I hope you enjoy this new OC as much as I do!**_

**Four Years Previous**

She was scared. Lorelei was scared out of her mind at what she was seeing. They came into the apartment she and her sister, Samantha, shared on Park Row and destroyed it, all five guys. She wished her father was alive to come and protect them from the bad guys that held pinned Lorelei down to the floor of their living room forcing her to watch what they were doing to Samantha.

They kept calling her Trixie. That wasn't her name, she wanted to scream but they put a gag in her mouth as well as her sister. They beat her, then they raped her, and then they shot her in the shin. Twice. She looked into Sam's eyes and saw them pleading. Don't make her watch, Sam thought. She has already seen enough death. At that point she knew she was going to die.

The bad guy that held Samantha down had a pistol in his hand and was waving it around like a toy. "You see Trixie, our boss is having a hard time trying to work with your husband, you see? We just need to convince him that giving us the cash to help our operation but, you know, that husband of yours is pretty damn stubborn. It's pretty nice that he moved you and whoever your friend is away but we knew better." He pointed the pistol at her temple and both girls screamed. "This is just how things have to be done."

Lorelei closed her eyes and wished she was deaf so she wouldn't have to hear the repulsive gun shot. It was just her screaming through the gag now.

They killed her.

They killed an innocent.

The same guy who killed her sister walked over and stood over her with the gun pointed at her head. This is it, she thought as she closed her eyes in defeat.

There was a crash then, through the window. She heard another gun shot and a few more. Why hadn't they hit her? She is supposed to be dead. Lorelei felt the pressure from the perp who had her pinned get heavier. The guy dropped dead weight on her and it was hard to breath. She opened her eyes and saw that the guy was dead. Immediately she tried to wiggle out from under him but to no avail. Looking around she saw The Red Hood. He was in combat with one of the guys who held her sister down and around them there were two other bodies. She watched the combat and watched a bullet blow through the bad guy's head. The Red Hood stood and watched the body fall to the floor with a thud.

He came to Lorelei, lifted the body off her and removed the gag, and then he went to Sam's body searching for a pulse. "Damn," he muttered. She couldn't tell if he was mad she was dead or that one of his targets got away. Lorelei could not move except into a fetal position on the floor and sobbed. She had no one now. In the last year she saw her father condemned for a crime he did not commit and her sister be killed for mistaken identity. Lorelei wished for her death then. She was tired of the pain.

The Red Hood began to crawl out the window when he looked around the apartment one last time. He looked down at the thirteen year-old on the floor and felt…guilt. He did get there on time and it was his fault that she had no one. He knew about the operation and worse, the guy who killed her sister got away. She was forced to watch it. The Hood knew he shouldn't but he knew he couldn't leave her there. This was Park Row. He had been there most of his life and if he did nothing he knew she was going to end up in worse situations than he did when he was her age. The police wouldn't come by either to take her somewhere safe either, at least not until someone complained about the stench of a rotting corpse. Screw it, he thought.

He turned around, knelt beside the girl, and took his helmet off and wrapped his jacket around her. He scooped her up into his arms, surprised at how light she was, and went out the door, down the five flights of stairs and into the alley where his motorcycle was parked, hidden behind some trash cans. Lorelei got the message and hopped in the back of the bike clinging on the Hood. She wasn't objecting to him practically kidnapping her but she felt she had a choice she would rather have been with him. There was nothing for her now.

**Present Day**

Dick kept vigil by his guest, not going out on patrol. It was his idea to bring her in and Bruce said she was his responsibility. I had been two days and he watched the infection ravage her body. Leslie said the disease broke down the red blood cells she was going to be very weak when she beat the fever. Alfred was around when she went into convulsions one time. It was scary when she went cold and turned deathly pale, but an hour later would be burning up again. Her breathing was less labored than before and Leslie took her off the oxygen. She stirred a lot at night which Dick assumed was from nightmares. He could relate to that and rubbed her head to soothe her back to sleep. By the third day the fever was broken and she slept all day peacefully.

On the third night Dick was jerked awake by screams. This girl had some nasty night terrors because when he got there she was thrashing in the bed and the goose down pillows were not pillows anymore. She was violent when Dick got her to wake up not hesitating to claw at his face drawing blood. Bruce ran into the room and helped Dick quiet her and hold her down. Eventually she relaxed in the mass of feathers but her eyes were still wide and scared, looking all over the room for an escape.

**Lorelei's POV**

There were two strange men above me when I woke up in a bed and room that was not mine. I wasn't where I was supposed to be. I could barely remember the night before, or at least I thought it was the night before. My hood, suit, boots, and my weapons were missing. FUCK FUCK FUCK! I needed to move.

I wasn't afraid of fighting dirty so I kicked the younger looking guy in the balls. Hard. The older guy let me go and I attempted to make a mad dash out of the room. I didn't care if I was just in some other's shorts and my sport bra with feathers sticking to me from sweat, I needed to get out of that place. I felt a painful tug on my arm where an IV must've been attached but I still kept running with blood trailing down my hands. My side was in so much pain from where I was shot. It was going to have a hell of a time getting out of here.

This place was huge! I had no idea where to go to get out. Then it was like a wave of exhaustion hit me and I fell to the floor. The big guy walked toward me and scooped me into his big arms and took me into another room with a fresh bed. I was too weak to fight him now. I hate being weak. Being weak got you killed, but there I was, lying limp as he bandaged my arm and some old gray guy wiped the sweat and feathers off me. I was too tired to fight them.

In my state of mind I thought, I will escape tomorrow. I hope that younger guy thinks twice before he tries to mess with me or else he won't be able to reproduce.


	3. After The Fall

**Four Years Previous**

He carried her up four flights of stairs to his apartment also on Park Row. Lorelei was numb and didn't care where she was anymore. She closed her eyes and left reality for the time being. She remembered her father and her sister and tried to think about the good times she had with them. It didn't make the pain any better. He laid her on his bed and left the room, closing the door behind him and she fell asleep with her tears. Lorelei was totally alone.

When she woke up she saw a duffle bag half open with some of her things and her father's, now her, violin case by the mattress she slept in. Why did he go back there, she asked herself? She wasn't sure if The Red Hood was around and didn't want to leave the safety of the room so there she stayed all day long.

Sometimes she slept and sometimes she stared blankly at the wall letting her mind go a million different directions thinking about the night before and diverting away from that by thinking about good times long gone. Then there were times she cried, letting the sobs rock her body. The sun was setting in the barred window when she had a flash back. She remembered how after her mother disappeared her father cheered her and Samantha up at in the evening by playing violin. Her father was proud of their Irish heritage and he played folk tunes for them to dance. Her favorite song was "The Lord of the Dance". It was the first thing Lorelei learned to play and she went to great lengths to play it as fast as she could.

Tonight she decided to pick up the violin even though she had not touched it since her father died a year earlier. She held it close to her and could detect the faint scent of her father's cologne form the last time he played, at Christmas mass. She took the bow and ran it across the strings, slowly, trying to remember how her favorite song went. Her fingers hurt from lack of this particular use but she slowly made music, a sweet ballad.

The door opened and there stood the man. He looked like a mess to Lorelei, like someone had used him for a punching bag. He looked strange to her. He had muscles on top of muscles, jet black hair, and it was a familiar sight. They acknowledged each other and brought himself down to her eyelevel. "I'm sorry," he said. "Is there anyone you can stay with? Anyone who you can call?"

She nodded no. "You're The Red Hood, aren't you? You saved me and brought me here."

"Yes. My name is Jason, what is yours?" he asked, sincerely too.

"Lorelei," she whispered.

"Lorelei, is there a safe place you can go? Any way you can stay off the streets?" That was something Jason needed to make sure of. He grew up on the streets and resorted to theft and prostitution to survive. Neither was ideal but he knew that a young girl like her was going to fall into a spiral and never get out. He didn't want to see her life go from being shattered to total disintegration.

"No."

Jason got up and headed to the door, "Okay. I will figure something out then in the morning. Just stay here, okay?"

She nodded yes and he left to get ready for patrol. She could see from the crack in the door him suit up, grab his guns, and slip on the red helmet. He crawled out another window and disappeared into the hell of Park Row.

Lorelei was left to do thinking again. She continued to play her violin until about three in the morning. She put away the violin in hopes of getting sleep she noticed something shiny at the bottom of the case. It was Samantha's Saint Martin de Porres, patron saint of justice. It was ironic to her that she still believed in justice especially after their father died at the hands of the government after being wrongfully accused of double murder. He died an innocent man; where was the justice in that? Her sister wanted to be a police officer until her father was convicted. They both knew the justice system had flaws, too many of them, to do the right thing. There were too many loop holes for the real criminals to get out of. Lorelei thought "good behavior" being a way of getting out of prison earlier was a big piece of shit.

Lorelei lost faith in the system that was supposed to protect people. She wanted her own justice. For a minute she thought about seeking out The Batman, but she knew she wouldn't ge through to him. He was too busy dealing with The Joker; She thought the Bat was an idiot as well for not doing away with his Rogue's Gallery for good by putting them down, permanently. They were all either being released from Arkham or escaping every other night. His system had good intentions, but his methods did not take into account crime prevention.

She had never felt so much anger in her whole life since she watched her father's execution. She felt helpless watching her sister's murder.

Lorelei wanted to man who killed her family dead. She wanted no one to lose their family like she did ever again. She was going to avenge her family and she was going to need Jason's help.

**Present Day**

It was mid-afternoon when Lorelei woke up again. She felt as if she was run over by an elephant and then some. This time she wasn't going to escape. She felt her hands bound to guard rails on the bed she was in. She panicked at them. She pulled at them trying to break free but to no avail. Lorelei looked around and remembered where she was and panicked some more. She also noticed a figure standing in the doorway to her left. It was the younger guy she kicked in the balls earlier because he walked over to her with a limp. Seeing that gave Lorelei some satisfaction.

He stood by her bed and looked down with seriousness at her. "If you stop fighting it I will let go of the restraints," he said, "but don't bother trying to run. You're going to be pretty weak for a while."

"Bite me," she snarled.

"Seriously? Isn't attitude overrated at your age?"

"You don't know a damn thing about me."

"I can try if you don't kick me in the junk or try to run away. It's because you're here that you're alive. Gratitude won't kill you."

"How do I know you're not going to pump me for information. Who are you working for?"

"Doesn't matter. It appears that we want the same thing."

"I don't see how you could know."

"Well.."

"Dick, enough," another voice said. They both turned and saw Bruce standing a few feet away. Holy shit! That's fucking Bruce Wayne, She thought. I'm in Bruce Wayne's house! FUCK!

"What the hell are you going to do to me?" Lorelei asked him.

"Help you. What you did at the docks four nights ago was impressive. Thought I would return the favor."

"Actually it was my idea, you were going to let her lay there until Gordon showed up," Dick interrupted.

"You guys don't need to introduce yourselves. I figured out who you guys are," Lorelei said. Bruce and Dick looked at her suspiciously.

"And may we ask how you know?" Bruce asked, his eyes glaring down at her.

"You know Jason Todd. I know him too, and pretty well. I know about who is Batman and who is Nightwing."

**Four Years Previous**

"I will not have it. I have already compromised my security by taking you in but I will not do anymore damage by putting you in the middle of my fight." Jason was adamant that he was not going to train a thirteen year-old girl on vigilance or follow him into this world. Lorelei was just as stubborn.

"I want to learn. I want to do what you do!"

"You don't know what you are asking for. You're not thinking straight. It's been a week since I brought you here. You're blinded by revenge."

"Aren't you?"

"It's not that same for you as it was for me. I came back from the dead. I was betrayed!"

"Well I was betrayed too! That system they have to lock bad guys up is flimsy at best. The system condemned my father, an innocent man. The system has done nothing for my sister's murder! I HAVE NOTHING!"

"What do you want?"

"I want real justice."

Jason didn't want to argue anymore. He wasn't going to let Lorelei, his ward, become a part of his night life. He saw potential in her, she could be a great fighter, a pseudo partner, but her motivations were too much like his. He didn't want her to live like he and Bruce did and do nothing but fight an never ending battle. She was too young, like he was. "Do you trust me to find the man who ruined your life?"

"Of course I trust you but I want him. I want him for myself. This is something I have to do."

"The answer is still no."

Lorelei was furious. She didn't understand why Jason, The Red Hood, wouldn't allow another to join his crusade on justice and vengeance. She took her fist and lounged at Jason, hitting him square in the eye, knocking him to the side. "You will let me do this. You will train me like you!"

Jason turned away to the fridge to grab a bag of frozen vegetables and placed it on his eye. He pointed at it and said, "I will consider it but only because of this."

**Present Day**

Bruce sat in a chair next to the bed Lorelei was sitting on the side of. For the first few minutes after her revelation they just stared at each other, seeing if one could read the other but both had stellar poker faces. Bruce ended the tense silence. "How do you know Jason?"

"I worked with him," Lorelei said matter of fact.

"Did he train you?"

"He taught me everything he knew, everything you taught him, and then some."

"Did he force you into it?"

Lorelei scoffed at the idea. "You can't be serious. I asked, no, begged to join him. He was adamant that I stayed away but he lost that battle obviously."

Bruce looked at her closer. "How old are you? Nineteen? Twenty?"

"Seventeen."

She looked older. Bruce knew he shouldn't judge since all his Robin's were out on patrols at a young age, but this was a seventeen year-old highly trained vigilante. "How long have you been with Jason?"

"Since I was thirteen."

To Bruce it was rather peculiar that Jason, of all people, took in a thirteen year-old. He was more concerned with why and why he trained her. What made her so special?

"Anything else you want to know about me?" she asked. Questions tested her patience.

"Your name?"

"Lorelei."

Bruce left the room and went to the cave to prepare for a night in Gotham. He was going to pay a visit to someone they both knew all too well.


	4. Teardrops on a Fire

**Lorelei's POV**

When he left the one they called Alfred walked in the room with a cocktail of pills and a glass of water. I ignored his British upper-lip mumbo jumbo and took the pills without question. I knew I was safe here and that they wouldn't poison me. Bruce/Batman was against any form of killing. I figured I had a mixture of pain killers and quinine to finish off any malaria left in my system. I had been there for about five days and I still had a while before I would be in any shape to get back to the streets. Even then I had lost almost a week in strength training it would be crazy to go back out without being properly prepared.

I wasn't in any hurry these days. I accomplished my sole mission a year ago and was not nearly as motivated as I was when I was younger. With all the laying around I did I let my mind go a million different directions. I thought about my father and my sister, the good times and the last moments I had with them. The last moments were the main cause of my nightmares for the last four years. The people I killed also haunted me in my sleep.

I thought a lot about Jason. I missed him and at the same time I hated him. He took me in, granted out of guilt, and taught me everything I knew about fighting and justice. He pushed me to go on when I hit the wall during training and on the field. Pain is temporary, but if you act like its forever you might as well be dead. That's permanent, was his favorite thing to say when I bitched about getting stitches from whatever lacerations I had, or when he pulled the bullet out of my shoulder. Our mission was constant but never boring, until I finished mine. That was when we had our clash of interests that almost ended with each other dead.

On the sixth day I had had enough of being in the same room. I felt strong enough to explore the manor, find my things my suit and weapons and leave. I gimped around with my hand at my side, dodging Alfred and Dick. Bruce was gone out on patrol again so he wasn't due for hours. I figured her possessions were in the Batcave. I remembered Jason talking about it when he was ranting about his altercation with The Batman one night, how he depended too much on his devices and having a large cave for headquarters meant that Bruce was compensating for something. I found the old clock and opened it easily and went down the stairs

The cave was, like the house, huge. It had everything that Jason said minus The Batman suit and Batmobile. I looked around every nook and cranny for my belongings but had no luck with it. It occurred to me that they more than likely ripped off my suit to fix my bullet wound and threw it away. I was pissed, no, beyond pissed. That was my only suit and leaving this place in just shorts and my sports bra was unpractical in the fall weather.

The one thing about the Batcave that does not help its security measures was its acoustics; I heard the Batmobile enter but I didn't bother moving from where I was. I wasn't scared of The Batman. What was he going to do to me, start a hand to hand combat with someone he knew that already knew everything about him?

Alfred walked in, dismissing my presence almost entirely to help his master out of the car. Batman looked like he had a hell of a tango with whatever crook he ran into that night. He had a hard time walking and hung his arm over Alfred's shoulder for support. I emerged out of the shadow where I watched Bruce take off his suit and fix whatever damage he acquired from the night. "I know this may be a bad time but I require my things to be on my way."

Bruce looked up at me, "You're not going anywhere."

First they took my suit, then they put me in restraints, then they made me their new hostage? I was pissed. I know I should be grateful to them for saving my life but I didn't care at that point. "Yeah I am. I am leaving."

"You bullet wound needs more time than you think to heal and you are still weak from malaria. There are also a few legal things I need to discuss with you before you go back out in the streets."

He sat by the computer and gestured Lorelei to a chair next to him. She watched the screen as he pulled up security photos with her silhouette, a few files of murdered criminals with The Red Hood's mark all over it that Bruce suspected that she had a hand in, and then three more files; Creed Zimmer, her father, and her sister's. "I know who you are, Lorelei, and I am surprised you don't have a name for yourself after your time with Jason."

She said, "I am working on the name."

"I know. You're also, like Jason, good at not getting caught by me or the authorities. If you did you would be convicted on a dozen counts of murder, assault with a deadly weapon, some theft, and there is the issue of the destruction you have caused in your missions which I can say I'm guilty of as well."

"Then I just won't get caught. As far as the world knows I'm either missing or dead, for the past four years at that."

"About that," he pulled up her file. "You were declared dead two years ago when they found traces of your blood at a crime scene. And then there is your age."

"I'm plenty old enough to take care of myself."

"Not according to the state. Doesn't help you haven't had any schooling. I am legally obligated to turn you in to child services as I am also obligated to turn you in for your crimes. Then they as well as I would go after Jason, which I really don't want to do and neither do you."

Lorelei hung on to every word Bruce said. She was stuck in a rut when it came to her identity. Her past came back to bite her in the ass too. She had mixed feelings about Jason and what his fate should be. He wouldn't go down without a fight so she was more concerned for the authority figure that would bring him in. Someone would die in the end. Lorelei didn't want that hanging on her conscious. She had enough blood on her hands.

"I know about your family and what you have done for them. I am sorry for your loss in more ways than one. I can sympathize more than you know. You have done what I have not and that is to find and kill the man who made you watch the last of your family be taken from you."

Lorelei fought the tears as he opened her family's file. She never let her guard down around anyone, not even around Jason when he started training her. Her hard shell was like shale now to Bruce's words that were like acid. She felt like she was back to her helpless thirteen year-old self. She saw the crime scene photos from their apartment, autopsy shots of her sister, her father's mug shot, and then one family photo from when she was four on the computer screen. Lorelei fought the tears as she looked at them.

"I am offering you refuge until you are eighteen, so you have a year."

"And if I refuse?"

"I will have to turn you in to the authorities. After that I can't help you, so let us help you now."

"What makes you think that I need help?"

"Lorelei, you can cut the shit. I spoke to Jason tonight, if you could call it speaking. He told me everything. He even told me why you left him, and your last altercation with him. Would you rather a year off the streets to get yourself together or life, possibly capital punishment, in prison?"

Lorelei was corned and had no other choice but to stay. "People are going to see me. Are you just going to hide me whenever you have company?"

"Remember you are declared dead. You will just pose as a distant younger cousin of mine from Metropolis. If you don't want to be put in the limelight I won't force you to." He pulled out of his pocket a shiny medallion and chain and handed it to her. "Dick found this after we moved you from the cave to the manor." It was Samantha's Saint Martin de Porres medallion.

"I will stay."

"Master Bruce, I hope you know what you are doing with this young lady."

"I do, Alfred."

"She is rather brutal, quite like young Master Jason was."

"She's a broken woman, Alfred. Jason didn't say much about their time, but eventually we will learn more about her. She has skills and motivation, but misplaced motivation, and I think she is struggling with that now. Look at what she has done. She killed Creed Zimmer last year."

"Wasn't that the bloody murder scene down at the east end docks warehouse you found?"

"Yes." Bruce clicked on the file and pictures of the scene he took flooded the screen.

"She did all that?"

"I wish I could say no. What makes her interesting though is that she hasn't done anything of this nature or brutal nature since. She is slightly reformed."

"Perhaps that was when she and young Jason had a clash of interests."

"You could say that again. She is going to give Dick a run for his money. He is eager to train with her when she is fully recovered."

"Doesn't her behavior bother you, sir?"

"No more than Jason did when he was younger. I am not thrilled that she has tattoos or has as many scars as she does."

"Kyrie Elasion?"

"God have mercy."

"Well at least that and the medallion Master Richard picked up accessorize it. I think I will go check on our newest mistress. Leslie stopped by and said she was recovering wonderfully considering a gunshot wound and severe malaria." Alfred turned around to leave.

"Oh Alfred, one more thing to keep in mind."

"Yes sir?"

"She has already stated to me that she wants no formal treatment and prefers to be called by her name without Mistress attached."


	5. Dark is a Way

_**Flashbacks are going to get a lot longer until we get closer to present day in this story. Lorelei's evolution is getting more interesting as I work on this. R&R!**_

**Three Years Previous**

Jason was about to get his ass kicked, and by a girl too. Lorelei was strong, she was quick, and she put her all into training. They practiced most of their hand to hand combat in his apartment, moving the beaten down couch and all other excuses of furniture to the walls, giving them plenty of space to train. She was quick when they started and now they she was getting faster. Her reflexes matched the rest of the Batclan. She was good at thinking on her feet when they were on the field, doing the small time jobs (He wanted to make sure she had a low profile for at least a year).

Since he was no master of practical gymnastics like Golden Boy was he figured par-core would do. She excelled. They took one night off to just run the streets and rooftops of Gotham, leaping and hurdling themselves from the ledges. Lorelei only faltered a few times which resulted in some new scar or a dislocated limb. Nothing that couldn't be fixed and even then she would carry on. She saved the bitching over pain for when they returned to the apartment.

"Alright enough." Jason was getting worn out but she kept on going. She was getting more and more rough and intense with training. "Stop!"

Lorelei lowered her tape up fists. She noticed Jason's arms and face beginning to swell. "Sorry I just got really into it." Jason was getting out of breath these days, Damn, I'm getting old. "It's fine but at some point you need to turn off your brain and relax when we train these days," he said between breaths. "You're in shape now. It's just a matter of maintaining. Hell, you're making me work."

"When are we heading out the work on weapons?" Lorelei asked eagerly.

"When you stop bleeding all over the place," he said pointing at her stitches across her back. "Grab a chair and get under the light, I'll fix it." She obeyed him when it came to stuff about injuries, most of the time that is. Lorelei to him was on a different level of stubborn and was a good actress when it came to hiding illnesses and injuries, until they got home in the morning and they were much worse. Her pain tolerance was good, but when it came to fixing injuries she found that Jack Daniels was a great anesthetic. Jason didn't object to her drinking, but kept an eye on her intake. "Tonight we're gonna work clean the guns."

"Ah seriously? We do that every other night. Why are you so OCD about them?"

"Because they are _my_ guns and I take good care of them. You'll see, after I fix a few stitches up. You ripped six this time. That's why I said we needed to stop."

She turned over her shoulder and smirked, "No you wanted to stop so your ass didn't get kicked."

"You got me," he answered sarcastically.

They began to clean the guns out when he noticed something on her forearms. He noticed the past week she was wearing long-sleeved shirts which was quite peculiar for early September. Lorelei was hiding something. She must have forgotten about it because she rolled them up to clean the guns. He grabbed her wrists before she could touch her barretta. "What is this?"

"Nothing," she said trying to act casual.

Jason knew she was lying and he pulled the sleeve up farther. In big cursive letters was the word Kyrie on the left arm and Elasion on the right. "What is the meaning of all this and where did you get that done?" Jason was acting like a father. Even though this was not his child, hell he was too young to have a child this old at twenty-four.

"Why do you care? It's my body."

"Because it is your body and what you do now will come back to haunt you forever. Where did you get it?"

"I worked something out with the tattoo parlor a few blocks away."

He knew the guy who owned the parlor. He was pretty creepy. "You didn't sell, did you?"

"Of course not."

"Don't lie to me. I don't want that for you. Listen to a guy who has been there and done that." Jason didn't want to delve into his past when he was a street rat, prostituting just to get some cash or food. Lorelei got the hint. "I just paid him a little extra and went in after hours," she assured him.

There was an awkward silence between them while they cleaned their guns, knives, and took inventory of their various other weapons in their arsenal. Jason was disappointed in his ward for permanently altering herself but who was he to judge? He was doing the same by bringing her into his night life. Jason ended the silence. "I have something for you, Lorelei." He got up and picked up a box from the closet where they kept their gadgets away from prying eyes. He handed it to her and watched her open it. "Consider this an early Christmas present."

She opened the box and pulled out a kevlar suit almost identical to The Red Hood's, but it had blue hues. At the bottom of the box was a new pair of black combat boots and stuff in one of them was a navy hood, not a bulky helmet (she wore Jason's around the place once and could not believe how he could stand to be in the hot, smelly thing). There was another thing wrapped up in the bottom, a black leather jacket and thin leather gloves. "I don't know what to say, Jason," she said. "What is this?"

"You know what it is. You want it and you're going to need it. But see if it fits first."

She dashed to the bedroom she kept (Jason resolved to sleeping on the couch so she could have her own privacy) and pulled the suit on, zipping the back all the way up to the choker collar The suit hugged her muscular yet refined body perfectly. The boots were snug but at least they wouldn't feel clunky on her feet. Lorelei could barely contain herself when she tried on the black leather jacket. It was shorter than Jason's but it clung close to her. When she looked at herself in the mirror she felt sexy and dangerous. The whole get-up made her feel like she was a whole new person and she loved it. Lorelei picked up the blue hood that laid on her bed and stared at it for a moment. _This is it_, she thought. _It is finally happening_. She pulled it on and felt complete.

**One Week Later: Present**

Lorelei made a few steps into adjusting to a new life for a year with a few complications. When she was through with bed rest she made it quite clear to Alfred that she was plenty capable of doing her own laundry and making her own meals and that she didn't want anything from the old man. She hated it when Dick and Bruce went on patrols together leaving her behind. She had serious cabin fever. She was tempted a few times to sneak out with Dick when he went back to his apartment in Bludhaven but she knew Bruce would track her down. Lorelei was fairly weak but it did not stop her from picking up her training routine. Run, box, lift then finish the day shooting whatever legal gun Bruce had in the cave for target practice. She made sure she left a note of how much ammo she used. Dick came to visit at the end of the week and he was eager to train with her.

Bruce watched Dick and Lorelei in the gym, impressed by both their stamina and strength. They ran close the six miles on a treadmill in a half hour which she boasted was not even trying. Dick took it as an insult, calling him weak. She was cocky about her skills until Dick got her on the rings. She fell due to a muscle spasm in her previously injured shoulder. Bruce nailed Dick to the wall for that, but Lorelei assured them both that nothing was wrong and she should've said no.

Both were drenched with sweat. Dick's t-shirt was transparent and Lorelei's tank top was soaked, her tight single braid frizzing from activity. "Ever fought a girl before, Dick?"

"Yeah."

"No, I mean really fight," she smirked. "I know Catwoman doesn't pay much attention to you, Poison Ivy ignores you, and Harley is not all there in the head."

"What is the difference?" She caught Dick by the arm and threw him over, hard to the floor. "What the hell?" Lorelei was already in a ready stance with her fists up and a devilish smile on her face. "Bring it."

They sparred for a good part of an hour, neither of them taking cheap shots at each other's faces or sensitive areas (a relief for Dick). Both were evenly matched. Bruce watched and began to worry when they were still going after an hour. She got more brutal with her punches and was taking close swings to Dick's face. Dick was exhausted and Lorelei showed no signs of slowing down. While Bruce walked toward them to break up the fight he caught a glimpse of the fury in her eyes.

Lorelei was ready to kill. He tried to get in the middle of them but, grabbing Lorelei's arms and pinning them behind her back, but she flipped and pulled Bruce over body slamming him. Dick fell, exhausted, and she made her pounce using her knees to pin Dick's elbows, sat on his chest and began to strangle him.

Bruce leapt onto her and pulled her off tossing her away from Dick, who was trying to catch his breath. After making sure his son was alright he turned around only to see Lorelei bolting out of the room. He went after her and after searching every possible hiding spot he found her walking to the front door. Bruce ran and stopped her dead in her tracks, gripping her arms ready to shake some sense into her. "What the hell was that?" he asked furiously.

Lorelei fought his grip. "I don't belong here. I almost killed him. I couldn't stop myself!" She was fighting tears with all her might.

"I still won't allow you to leave."

"You should. I'm a danger to everyone here."

Bruce had very rarely heard someone say that about themselves. He knew this girl had issues, but like Jason, where was he going to begin? He half-dragged Lorelei to the cave for a chat.

**Two Years Previous**

They knocked eight of the nine guys out and cornered the last goon in an alley. Jason killed a few and Lorelei maimed the others; she believed death was the easy way out for the scum they went after and it was better for them to suffer in Gotham, Hell of Earth. Jason agreed with her to an extent. The gang they were working on was responsible for arson, burning down a whole apartment building that was owned by competition, killing seven and forever changing the lives of dozens who lived there. Lorelei had her foot on the nineth guy's neck pinning him to the the ground, pointing her small pistol at his face. "You're going to make for a good message, you know that? Your boss is next," she growled.

"Wait! Wait! I can tell you what you need to know to get to him, find the rest of the guys if you let me up! PLEASE!" the little man screamed.

"Lor, let him up," The Red Hood hissed, pulling on Lorelei's shoulder. The little man sat up and backed frantically to the brick wall as Jason knelt down and pointed the gun at his chest. "Alright, spill it."

The little man spoke between short breaths, "His name is Creed Zimmer. He is the one you want. He's trying to take down Maroni and his men so he would get control of the money laundering around here."

"Where is he?"

"I don't know!" he cried.

The Red Hood took his baretta and cocked the gun back. "Don't make us lose our patience."

"He lives up in the east end of the city. He works mostly out of his penthouse."

"What about the money?"

"Warehouse. I don't know which one it moves around every so often." The little guy caved and snitched on his fellow man. All the information was gold to Lorelei and Jason.

The Red Hood put his gun away. The little man relaxed. "Thank you for being so cooperative. There is just one problem with you though I don't like, but my friend will take care of that." He stepped away and Lorelei shot both of the guy's legs. They both crawled up the fire escape and ran across the rooftops back to their apartment. They added haste when they saw the Bat Signal in the sky. Lorelei didn't understand why Jason had such a problem with it. She knew they had an altercation a few years ago, but there was something more. She sensed a lot of hurt.

When they arrived Jason pulled out his laptop and did research on their newest find. They had a name now. At first what Jason found was his list of convictions and warrants for his arrest in a dozen or so cities including Gotham. His earlier work was murders associated with some mob he was in. He floated among them all and he got bolder with his crimes up until four years ago and then he went off the grid until last year, and he used power to get control of the whole damn city. He looked further into the conviction back in the day and found more than he bargained for. He called Lorelei into the living room. "I have something!"

"What is it?" she replied from the other room.

"This guy is a piece of work. He uses the model of how businesses get big. He spilt a lot of blood and cash to be head honcho."

She walked into the living room dressed in sweats and a hoodie, her hair wavey from the tight braid she wore under her hood all night. "And this makes him so much more important than the others? We'll take him out lickity split, no problem. I don't feel like getting too close so can we plan this one out better so we can use the sniper rifles?"

"I think you'll be more interested in this one by yourself."

"Jason, you can't be serious? This is a mob boss. I can't that all on my own."

"I would help you, but I think you want to take out Creed Zimmer on your own terms." He turned his laptop around and showed the file on his sister's murder. "Creed Zimmer was just a goon back then, the one that got away." Lorelei looked at his picture and she grew hot with anger. The now gray-haired man was the guy who put a bullet through he sister's head and pointed that same gun to her temple. He was the guy who chased her down in her nightmares and in those nightmares made her watch her family die over and over again. Lorelei's life was changed forever because of him. "I'm going to make him pay."

"When do you want to start on your mission?" Jason asked.

Lorelei looked at him, her guardian. "As soon as possible." Jason was worried about his ward. While she was a great fighter, strong enough to hold all her emotions in her head, and had the attitude to match his own he worried about where it was all lead her to. She was fifteen, almost sixteen now and had more blood on her hands than he did when he began his debut as The Red Hood. These days she was lacking control when she trained, really hurting herself and Jason in the process. The scary part was that Lorelei didn't realize it until someone was hurt. "We need to talk about this before you make any plans," he said. She looked at him again, "About what? I gotta take out Zimmer."

"I understand that but we need to talk about why you need to take him out."

"He killed my sister, tried to kill me, and he has ruined the lives of countless others. Do I need to validate myself anymore?"

"No, but I want you to know what you are getting yourself into."

"What are you talking about?" she asked. "I knew what I was getting myself into when I punched you in the face begging you to take me on the night with you."

"Do you know why I do what I do?"

She paused and said, "I know it has something to do with The Batman. I've seen your face instantly change when you see his signal or feel his presence."

Jason was prepared but at the same time he wasn't when it came to telling Lorelei how The Red Hood, himself, came to be what he was, a vigilante. He told her his origin in the streets, his time as Robin (even ranting about Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson and their identities), his death by the Joker, coming back from death and down to his last showdown between The Joker, The Batman and himself. Lorelei understood why Jason told her his life and why he never told her a thing before. Jason was still hurt by it all and he turned that hurt into his motivation to take on the hell called Gotham. "I am still not changing my mind," she said. "I am still going after Zimmer. I will make him pay."

"I just don't want you to lose yourself to killing. You have been losing control of yourself lately. I don't want you to totally lose it and make mistakes that could cost you your life."

"I won't lose it. Give me credit where credit is due. I am stronger than everyone else you know. Hell I'm stronger than The Batman. I can handle this!"

"You have light in you. When you make the kill you plan you lose it. Just don't lose yourself to the darkness like I did."

Lorelei was frustrated with Jason's lectures. He didn't kill the creep, the demon, responsible for his death. Jason was just as bad with The Joker as Bruce was letting him go when he blew up the abandoned apartment. She sat on the couch and took the laptop away from Jason. Lorelei was planning out her every move for her sole mission, to kill the man who ruined her life, with details down the weapons and methods she was going to use.


	6. The Missing Frame

**Present Day**

Lorelei sat across from Bruce silent in the cave. Bruce spoke first, "Lorelei, I will not condemn you for what just happened, but you're going to have to open up so it doesn't again. There is no one here to judge you if you let your guard down. You can do that."

"What do you want me to say? I'm sorry? Of course I am," she said, holding back the sobs in her throat.

"I know you need help. You have been through a lot and have done so much in a short amount of time that it disturbs you."

"Disturbed? When I look back on it I am traumatized. I haven't had a decent night's sleep since my father was executed and I have had night terrors since Samantha's murder. What happened to them has affected me so deeply and it scares me. I don't even have faith in vigilantism anymore. If I don't have that then what do I have?" Tears began to well in her eyes. "I not only live with that in my dreams but also with the scars on me." She pointed at the one on her face.

Bruce nodded in agreement. "I understand what you are going through."

"But have you ever been terrified of yourself?"

**One Year Previous**

Lorelei and Jason watched the warehouse district from the shadows. Lorelei had her sights on Zimmer who was driving a Benz to meet his goons outside the building where they carried out their illegal activities. Jason followed Lorelei's every order, all the way down to the second they made their moves.

Her plan for The Red Hood was simple. Zimmer had six guys waiting for him and Jason was to take down all of them leaving Zimmer for her.

They distracted them with a grenade shot two hundred feet from them, just to make them antsy. They used the precious seconds to move in closer in the shadows. Lorelei tossed a smoke pellet in the middle of the circle they were standing in. "Move!" she shouted.

There were gun shots going off in different directions, but the Kevlar protected them. Lorelei didn't pay attention to anyone around her other than Zimmer. She had her taser out and ready for his neck. Just enough to knock him out, she thought. Lorelei grabbed Zimmer, pulled him to the ground, knocking the gun out of his hand, and zapped him into submission. She punched him in the face with her brass knuckles for good measure. She dragged him to his car, shoved him in the back seat, and drove away.

Lorelei didn't bother to tell Jason what the last part of her plan was knowing he would interfere in some way. She drove to the east end docks, to the condemned boat house, where she had a chair and restraints waiting. Dragging his heavy limp body to the chair was like carrying a purse to Lorelei. She was full rage and anger that she felt invincible.

She meticulously chained his feet to the legs of the metal chair and zip-tied his wrists to the back. She had a bucket of water nearby and tossed it on him to wake him up. She was silent until he could see her. "What the hell are you?" he asked. Zimmer was pissed, but not nearly as much as his captor. "I am a very powerful man. I can and will get you taken care of. You will regret messing with me. I have the manpower."

"Your manpower won't do you any good. The Red Hood has them all under his thumb."

He growled, "You work for him, huh?"

"I work for no one." She punched the other side of his face. Blood was streaming down his nose. "I know all about you Creed Zimmer. I know all the people you worked for and all the people you hurt. I know because you hurt me."

"I have no idea who the hell you are. It was probably one of my men. They get carried away sometimes, but they do an excellent job. I got nothing to apologize for."

Lorelei kicked the chair under and made a swift hit into his stomach, knocking the air out of him. "Your apology even if you make one wouldn't do you any good."

She pulled the chair up again and worked on him with a knife slicing him across his torso, not deep enough to warrant severe bleeding but enough to make him think. Zimmer took the pain trying not to scream in the process. "I remember the night before you left town three years ago. I was there. I was there with…Trixie."

Zimmer's eyes widened and then he smiled. "Yeah that was a hell of a night. We killed the wrong girl but it didn't matter. Red Hood dropped in when it was all said and done. We were supposed to take her out but she must have had a sister, forgot about that one, but I heard that girl is dead and gone now. She watched it all go down." Lorelei allowed him to speak all the while tryng to hold in her anger. "Trixie was a pretty good lay, a true screamer. That kind of thing got all of us off." He chuckled at the memory.

The last sentence he uttered did her in. She couldn't control herself anymore and destroyed Zimmer. She halted for a minute and pulled her blue hood off. Zimmer's unswollen eye looked up in horror. "It can't be!"

Lorelei held a knife up to his throat and then pulled it back to stab his kneecaps. "You! Must! Die!" she screamed. "You killed my family!"

Zimmer screamed in terror when she picked up a crowbar and worked on him. She lost herself to the mission, to the torture. Finally he was done screaming, barely breathing. He looked up at Lorelei with eyes cold and heartless. She pulled out her barretta and pulled the trigger.

Jason had the scum all taken care of when the smoke blew away. Lorelei was gone. Zimmer's car was missing. He had no idea where they went. _Fuck!_ He ran all over the district when he heard male screams. They came from the east end. He knew he wasn't going to be able to stop her in time but it didn't stop him from running as fast as he could. Jason listened carefully for any human noise until he spotted Zimmer's Benz not far from the condemned house and ran for it. It was when he heard the gunshot he knew he was too late to intervene.

He opened the door that worked and found Lorelei standing in front of Zimmer's body coated in blood with part of his head missing. Lorelei stared at it with a deadly look in her eyes and blood spattered across her face and suit.

Jason took off his helmet and walked to Lorelei quietly, almost afraid of her. He was afraid of what he created. "Lorelei?" he whispered. She didn't move, she was still staring at Zimmer. Jason looked up through the hole in the roof and saw the Batsignal. "Lorelei, we need to go, now." He grabbed her by the wrist and they ran out of the building, jumping into the water and swimming to another dock. He hoped that that and the rain clouds coming in would wash the blood traces off her face and suit. When they got there he pulled her hood over her face and they both ran to Park Row when the thunder rolled. They climbed up the fire escape and crawled through the window, Jason first then pulled his ward in.

She immediately sat on the couch, hunched over with her head hanging. Jason didn't know what to do with her. She was almost catatonic. She showed no emotion over what she did. All he could do was throw a blanket over her shoulders and get her to eat something; the last thing he needed was for her to get sick. "Lorelei, are you okay?"

She looked up at him, "He is dead."

"Yes, Zimmer is dead, but are you alright?"

"I think so." Jason noticed she was shaking. "I'm going to shower," she said.

**Present Day-Lorelei's POV**

I told him everything about that night. I confessed to a murder to one of the richest men in the world. I felt somewhat better when I did, but also very empty, almost hollow, like the night I killed Creed Zimmer. "I remember feeling disappointed," I could not stop talking. "I had it all thought up in my head that it was going to be one of the greatest things I had ever done and when I stared at his half blown off head I didn't feel a thing. I felt like I had become something I didn't like, just an empty shell with the ability to kill. Now when I fight I go back into that place, that night, as if I want to relive it, to have the right kind of feeling."

Bruce stared at him, but his look was sympathizing, like he cared. "What kind of feeling did you want?"

"Relief."

_**I have to do about two more flashbacks and then we get to see more of a year's interaction between Lorelei and the Batfamily. I promise it will be interesting! Jason will have his moment in present tense later. I am also writing this chapter slightly inebriated on wine, again I think. As always R&R please! As long as people review I will continue to write for you. Show me some love!**_


	7. The Feel Good Drag

**Three Months Later**

Next to Bruce, Alfred had the hardest time adjusting to their semi-permanent guest. He fought the urge to walk in her room, make her bed, pick up her dirty laundry, and make her a meal. Lorelei insisted on living a semi-normal life, and for her, having a butler was not normal.

Bruce arranged for her to be normal however. She had a full wardrobe, which in Wayne family terms meant huge, but no matter what Alfred suggested she stuck with jeans, tall boots, a white shirt and a blue jacket almost every day. Bruce had Dick come by to visit and take her around Gotham during the daylight hours when he wasn't busy. To them it was like watching someone learn to walk for the first time. Lorelei had rarely seen Gotham, at least parts that were not Park Row, in the daylight. She looked pale in comparison to other people, and was a bit of a tomboy when compared to other women. Lorelei stayed quiet and fought her now instinctual habits of self-defense when she was in a crowd and forced herself to turn off her alertness. Dick was glad when they had lunch that she had manners. "Just because Jason took me in doesn't mean I'm barbaric."

Bruce made sure that when Lorelei trained that he was there, in case she lost control. She wouldn't let you know it but she was glad he was there. After the incident with Dick she was weary of herself. She also wanted to prove herself to Bruce that she was capable to follow him on patrols, but he wouldn't have any of it. She missed the streets at night, pummeling the scum of Gotham to a pulp, how powerful she felt in her suit with her identity under wraps, missed the thrill of jumping off roof tops and par-core. She dropped hints for a while and then finally asked him straight up and he still answered no. He dug up more information on her past missions and victims and discussed them with her to figure out what went on in her head. There were a few that she believed were justified, smiling at the memory of them, and then there were the ones that followed Zimmer's murder where she turned away or acted as if she didn't remember them or acted very cold and stone like. There was a mysterious arson that he figured she was linked to which she denied.

She busied herself to kill time in the day and night. She never did sleep well. When she did she always had night terrors. Lorelei also insisted to Alfred and Bruce to not be bothered by it, but her screams were so loud that it was impossible. Since she slept for a good portion of the day Barbara Gordon, when she was around, could hear it.

Lorelei liked Barbara since it brought a female presence in the manor. She didn't mind hanging out with the boys but it was nice to have someone to confide to, Bruce listened but Barbara talked. She envied her too since she still had her family.

Even though she lived with people who had seen their families taken from them Lorelei rarely spoke about hers to Bruce or Dick, she only talked about it to Jason when she was younger. The memory was overwhelming and she would hide to conceal her tears. Lorelei didn't want to be seen as weak. When it came to her time with The Red Hood she was adamant to the Batclan that she put that all in the past, but she didn't want to admit to the things she missed.

LORELEI'S POV

I missed playing music. I had been without my father's violin for almost a year (six months after I left Jason and now almost four since I took up residence at Wayne Manor) and now it was December, it was now eight years since he last played at Christmas mass. I knew I wasn't alone in this house, but I felt alone. Barbara was cool, Dick was friendly, Alfred finally accepted my requests to not be my butler, and I felt like I really got through Bruce's head that I was fit for patrol, but I still felt alone. The same kind of alone I felt after Samantha was murdered. During my time with Jason, while he was gone on patrols and I was at home base for some reason or another, I played to counter the loneliness

I convinced Bruce to take the night off on Christmas Eve so all of us could go to midnight mass. I don't think anyone in this house had ever gone to a church unless it was for a funeral. I shouldn't judge since the last time I was in one was when I broke down after killing Zimmer and before that was the last Christmas mass with my father and sister when I was nine. I did not consider myself a spiritual person but there was a sobering affect a church had on me that either made me feel happy or brought me to my knees in anguish.

I was sad for the Wayne family when it came to the holidays. They worked all the time. Even Jason knew that the holidays were just holidays and working was not to be a priority, that and we didn't like the cold. Getting ready for mass was pathetic. I told them to dress appropriately since we were going to be a house of God, but when they returned I had to make them change. I think they took me way too literally and dressed in their best business attire. I was ready in a dark blouse and black slacks, not a business suit and heels, too dressy. Dick was better in Dockers and a button up shirt but when Bruce showed up with no change I gave up on him.

We got to the church fifteen minutes early as I had planned, not that they would've cared, but it was something my father made us do, so we could recite out Rosary. The church was gorgeous. Hardly anyone was there and everything was by candle light. I liked how just the church itself had a grasp on me with the darkness with the small warm lights and the feeling of being small. It was something I lost myself to and Midnight mass was perfect for that. The four of us sitting in a pew brought back the fond memories I had when I was younger with my family and suddenly I didn't feel so alone anymore.

Due to the lack of choir the church hired a violin player to play the hymns. More memories, good and bad, flooded my brain. I could almost picture him standing near the lectern and my sister next to me. I smiled at the thought.

When mass was over and we had returned to the manor insomnia was in full swing, no one was going to be sleeping except me. I knew Bruce and Dick were just going to go out on patrol again, despite it being Christmas morning; I was content to be left behind this time. I just wanted to sleep with the good feeling I had now. I hadn't felt content in such a long time and I just wanted to savor every lasting moment. Of course I couldn't sleep but it did not stop me from going to bed anyway. Alfred was gone in the cave leaving me to be yet again alone in the mansion, but I was alright with it. It was like everything that morning didn't matter, and not because it was Christmas, but it was because I was for the first time in eight years content.

After I dropped my clothes and changed into a t-shirt and flannel shorts I noticed the window was open a crack and below it was a medium-sized box with a note on it. I opened the box and to my surprise was my father's violin case. Jason brought it here. I was angry with him but to overwhelmed with happiness by the sight of my heirloom. When I opened the case and picked up the violin I cried and began playing. "The Lord of the Dance" was the first thing I could finish until my fingers were in so much pain that I had to give up. I read the note that was attached to the box and the good feelings I had vanished. _ We still have unfinished business, Jason._

**Sixteen Months Previous**

Jason watched Lorelei carefully on patrols after she killed Creed Zimmer. She was quiet, mechanical, and her fighting style lacked her usual flair. She made direct kills and left the scene unconcerned. Jason at least made effort to mentally grasp whatever damage he had done. Lorelei went rogue once and went after the rest of Zimmer's men, and the scene there wasn't pretty; she had them all lined up and made a bloody mess. Jason nailed her for it when she returned to the apartment but she took his lectures from the distance seeming unaffected by it. When they cleaned the guns he could feel her give him a death stare.

She left without him for patrols frequently without telling him. When he wasn't busy he looked for her and found her in places that were far too public for them to be in. One time he found Lorelei with her baretta in her hand sitting in front of a brightly lit billboard on the freeway, saying she was waiting for something. She was getting bold with her other identity meshing with her alternative one by letting her long French braid fall out of her hood instead of being tucked under. She rolled up her sleeves exposing her tattoos which he figured was how she made her victims remember her. Kyrie Elasion did mean God Have Mercy. Her patron saint medallion glistened in the moonlight as well, something she usually had tucked under any form of clothing. Lorelei's silence was screaming.

Nothing could prepare him for this night. He woke up that afternoon to find that a number of ammo was missing, grenades gone, Taser was missing, and no Lorelei. The bedroom was cleaned out of the few belongings she had except her treasured violin. It was time for him to hit the streets but now it was to search out for his ward. Jason knew that the killing of Creed Zimmer had gotten to her head but he was certain he had taught her enough control to keep her from becoming Gotham's killing machine. Now he just hoped that the training stuck. He didn't want her to go after the innocent people.

He scoured Park Row, The Narrows, and parts around Arkham, even got close to the police station. She was nowhere to be found so he returned to Park Row. What he did find surprised him, Nightwing bent over a body at the bottom of an alley. "Well well well, ain't it the Golden Boy out in Crime Alley," he smirked. "Did he send you out here?"

Nightwing didn't bother to look at him when he spoke, "I didn't come out to run his errands. I came out here to find information that only you would know about and then I stumbled onto this," he said acknowledging the body. "Besides I'm taking over for Batman until he gets done with whatever he is doing with the JL."

"Don't you have your own work to do in Bludhaven?" The Red Hood asked, annoyed with Golden Boy's presence.

"That work brought me here."

The Hood crossed his arms over his chest, baretta in his left hand. "And?"

Nightwing pulled a picture out of his belt of what looked like a screen shot from a security image. "This girl has skills that match yours. Looks like she fashioned your old suit for her own, but the headwear doesn't look ridiculous. Doesn't have a name for herself but I figured you would know her." The Red Hood knew it was Lorelei. She had been going to Bludhaven all these nights, but for what? It was fairly recent since she had begun letting her long braid out of her hood and her tattoos were showing. Nightwing asked, "Have you taken in a ward?"

Jason crumpled the picture up in a tight fist, "I'm gonna kill her," he growled.

"Sounds like you did."

"Took her in, yes. Kill her, no, not yet."

"Can you fill me in on some information, please? This is fresh blood with her style of killing written all over it. We can still get her."

The Red Hood began to walk away, turning on his heel, "No. Don't worry about this one." Just before he could finish his sentence they saw a grenade drop between them. The barely made it out of the alley to take cover when it went off. When the smoke and debris settled they looked around them for the source. The Red Hood spotted Lorelei, standing at the ledge of the building above them, turning around and making a run for it. He climbed up the fire escape of the building to the roof as fast as he could with Nightwing grappling behind him. Even though he was annoyed by his presence he would never let him know he was thankful for the backup. When they got to the roof she was already running on the building next door. They kept after her until she leapt off another roof and fell. They looked down and saw that she crashed through a roof of Crime Alley's dilapidated meat packing plant. The Red Hood knew she had something planned for him. Nightwing got another call for an armed robbery and left The Red Hood. "I assume you're gonna take care of this?"

"At least not in your methods," The Hood said with indignation. Nightwing shrugged and grappled away. The Red Hood took off his helmet and crawled through the hole in the roof, landing awkwardly between old conveyer belts. The only light that shined was the dim city lights through the high windows. The lack of made it more dangerous for Jason to be there. He knew there would be meat hooks, old machinery and many other things that due to Lorelei's training she would fashion into an improvised weapon. He moved carefully into the middle of the plant, listening carefully for any movement. He heard an object drop from thirty feet away which promptly exploded. Another grenade caused a small fire in of the machine lighting the whole place up. When he looked up he saw Lorelei who had her hood off and was giving him a deathly stare from the high beams on the ceiling.

"I am glad you showed up," she said, venom kissing her tone.

"What are you doing, Lorelei?" Jason asked, almost concerned but ready to discipline his ward for disobedience.

"Doing my job." She leapt onto a nearby meat hook and landed ten feet away from Jason.

"You're doing your job well, but we need to talk about how you're doing it too well and getting sloppy." Then there was an explosion from another machine forty feet behind Lorelei that she didn't move from.

"Oh yeah, that," she scoffed. "I have made up a new job position."

The fire began to roar. Jason had to start yelling. "So what is this new thing you're doing? Going behind my back and killing just about any criminal you can find?"

Lorelei shook her head, "No. I'm done with the killing. I took care of the people who ruined my life. For everyone else being dead is the easy way out."

Jason wasn't sure who she meant by that. She had murdered and caused pain since the day she became Jason's ward and his pseudo partner. "So who have you let go?"

She stared him down, eyes on fire. "You."

Following that sentence Lorelei ran at Jason feigning throwing a fist and roundhouse kicking him in the jaw instead. She knocked Jason down for a split second before he leapt up and returned the gesture. It was hand to hand combat amongst the explosions and fire. They were both evenly matched and that was when the rules they had went out the door. Lorelei was fighting dirty. She had a small blade and cut up Jason, not enough to seriously hurt but enough to keep him distracted on the pain while she went for pressure points. Jason dodged one of her moves and tripped her to the concrete. He pulled on her braid and swung her away. He put his foot on her chest, pinning her against the ground. She used all her might to push him off and knock him over at the ankles. She knew Jason fell at weird angles and he went down head first disorienting him. Now he regretted taking off his helmet.

She pulled out her gun, kneeled on Jason's elbows, pointed the barrel between Jason's eyes. He did not bat an eye at her. "So I have ruined your life?" he asked, blankly.

"You have altered it." Lorelei's tone was stone cold an venomous. "You were complacent when you let Zimmer go all those years ago. If you hadn't I would…"

"Still have ended up on the streets," he interrupted. "You still would have gone after the man who made the plan to go after Trixie for whatever reason it was. You still would have become what you are."

Lorelei was losing her grip when she heard this. She didn't want to hear his truths. "No! I would have been placed somewhere. I wouldn't have killed all those people. I wouldn't have become what I am afraid of. I wouldn't be terrified of myself!"

There was another explosion, closer to them this time. Lorelei heard a crash from a high beam on the other side of the room. She had to get out, but she had one last thing to say and do.

She pointed the gun at Jason's left shoulder, between two Kevlar plates, and pulled the trigger. Jason roared in pain. "Killing you seems pointless since you would come back from the dead anyway." She got off Jason and ran to one of the lower windows, crashing through the glass, leaving Jason behind.

_**I am almost done with the move! There will be plenty of updates this short summer since all I am doing is working until band camp. **_

_**I am unsure about what to do about the flashbacks from here so if anyone has ideas send them my way. **__**Your reviews are vital! Tell your friends!**_


	8. Spotlight

**Present Day**

I kept the note and violin a secret from Bruce and Dick and hid the violin from Alfred. Jason was onto me and I was afraid. I was going to have to face him again sometime, especially after our last encounter. I knew Bruce visited him one night around the time they took me in and that was to get information about me since his database had nothing. If I remembered correctly that visit got The Batman hurt.

I finally got a sleep and had mild nightmares that morning. No one got a wake-up call that morning, Alfred got Christmas day off. I rolled out of bed around the early afternoon and along with Dick and Bruce. They were in the common room and I could hear Barbara Gordon with them. I had no idea what they did for the holidays but I didn't want to intervene. I had spent my past four holiday seasons either perched up on a rooftop or playing a few tunes in Jason's apartment, boozing around and having a few good laughs. We didn't exchange gifts except the one year when I got my suit and hood. I had nothing to offer The Waynes. I wanted to hang in the background and go unnoticed, avoid the awkwardness of Christmas morning as much as possible.

I barely tiptoed past the corridor leading to the common room when Bruce called me in. He had exceptional hearing and I hated that he did. When I peered from the corridor I could see that they were all dressed in typical day wear and I was still in my shorts and t-shirt, another awkward moment. It was obvious that they had already exchanged gifts. I just smiled and began to walk towards the kitchen to make some coffee a.k.a find Bruce's stash of Jack Daniels when Bruce called for me again.

When I walked into the room he had a small box for me. He insisted it was mine and I hesitated taking it from him. I had a hard time accepting his hospitality. I said my thanks ahead of opening the thing, which wasn't wrapped and I was glad for that. I had issues with frivolous things which made living among the Waynes all the more annoying to me. When I opened it it seemed like Bruce and Dick got me a heap of deep blue satin but I spotted a glint of something shiny. I pulled the heap out and I was confused when I heard Barbara chuckled. I dropped the box and realized I was holding a fricken dress upside down! I never felt so embarrassed in my whole life! It was a dress and I didn't even know it. I felt like a fool.

When I flipped the dress upright I was astounded at its beauty. It was a longsleeved number with a deep neckline with an embossed green stone. At the bottom of the box was a pair of strappy heels. All this was beautiful but I had doubts, major ones, that this was all meant for me. I held it up and gave Bruce a confused look. "Who is this for exactly?"

Bruce smiled and laughed lightly, "This is for you. Alfred mentioned you didn't have anything dressy for a black-tie event, especially for the one later this week."

I knew I was in trouble when he said black-tie event. "You can't be serious. What event?"

"Wayne Enterprises is hosting a New Year's Eve thing at the penthouse. You have already made your existence public when you went out with Dick so it is time to follow through with your part of the act. Remember you are posing as a distant cousin of mine."

I stood there dumbfounded at the words that flew out of Bruce's mouth with ease.

**Four Days Later**

This is the worst thing I had ever done. I could not believe that Bruce Wayne was putting me through social hell. I felt like an idiot, a social idiot. Alfred, Barbara and Dick were teaching me to be "civilized" for high society. I was repulsed by frivolous things. Barbara taught me how to have a ladylike presence and self-carriage, in heels. Alfred instructed me on table manners and the language of the rich and of Wayne Industries. Dick coached me and educated me on the people who would be in attendance. Unlike Alfred he trusted my conversation topic judgement. I felt like I was Eliza Doolittle in "My Fair Lady". I was miserable but I had to keep up appearances for security's sake.

It was eight o'clock on New Year's Eve and the party started at ten. Barbara had come over to help me with my hair, often suggesting that I needed to stop braiding it and cut it, to try something new, but I protested and allowed her to only throw my brown hair in a loose bun and hair traces to shape my face, like the typical image of a Greek goddess. She helped me with make up since I lacked knowledge of it at all. I thought I looked pretty without and I didn't need my looks when I had my strength but then she pointed out the scar above my brow. My body had a history and it needed to be hidden. It also explained why Bruce picked a dress that didn't show my arms or my back, but I questioned the deep neckline in a brief moment of cheekiness. Call it modesty but I called it practicality.

I slipped on the dress and looked at myself in the mirror. The blue satin frock fitted me well, cinching up in all the right places, and it was beautiful.

I didn't look like myself. I felt so out of place in the heavy gown, hair and make-up. This was a world I didn't belong in. I belonged on the streets in my suit and hood taking out the scum of the earth.

I left the room and walked clumsily to the grand staircase where Bruce, Dick and Barbara were waiting for me. Alfred must have been waiting in the car, no, limo. I was the silent one on the ride over whereas Dick and Barb would not shut up. Bruce sensed my mild anxiety fit and hushed them, then assured me that the party would be over by two in the morning at the latest. We were going to be staying at the penthouse that night. When we stopped at Wayne Enterprises tower I pulled myself together and tuned out the noise I could hear from the paparazzi swarming outside. Dick got out first and opened the door for his lady and they went through the flashing horde. It was my turn to get out of this fancy black sardine can. Bruce beat me to it though opening the door for me.

I hated the flashing lights, the poking, the prodding and the millions of questions that ranged from if I was Bruce's new squeeze or if I was his new adopted daughter. We didn't answer to such things. I just kept my head down and he nudged off the men with cameras.

They tried to follow us into the elevator but thankfully it was all put to a stop when the door sealed shut. I was catching my breath the whole way up bracing myself for the next social blow when the elevator opened again. I was still unprepared.

The rest of the night I stayed silent other than carrying on a grand total of three polite conversations and dozens of also polite introductions to Bruce's co-workers and friends, if you could call them that. I struggled in the heels and was grateful that Barb had a pair of more comfortable shoes hidden in a closet away from public eye. I was disappointed that the beverage of choice was champagne because all I wanted was some whiskey. Even more disappointing was that they followed the law and didn't serve to minors. I had so much tension that I needed my best friend, Jack Daniels, to help me take the edge off. I was overwhelmed and angry with the situation I was in and the people I was surrounded by! The wealthy annoyed me with their troubles, if you could call them that and how shallow they were.

Around eleven fifty-nine I snuck a glass of champagne away and headed to the balcony while everyone else started the countdown to midnight. I guzzled down the glass and whatever glasses were left behind by the smokers. I needed it. I listened to them celebrate the passing of midnight and sing Aude Lang Signe. I didn't feel any different now than I did a few minutes before. I felt like I hadn't accomplished a damn thing, especially after the Waynes took me in.

The cold air helped me clear my mind of the negativity I was feeling but then I felt a different kind of chill in the air coming from a shadow. I looked and there stood The Red Hood.

At this point I was helpless. I didn't have my weapons and I was trapped in blue satin. FUCK! I braced myself for an attack but he remained in the shadow. He didn't speak. I tried to hide the slur in my speech, "What are you doing here?"

"You already know, unfinished business, remember?" he said. His voice was almost a growl now. "Did you think you could get away with leaving me in a firing inferno?"

I put up my defenses, "You came back from the dead once, you could do it again."

"Did you think your actions wouldn't come back to haunt you? Did you not listen to that lesson when I trained you? You're making costly mistakes."

I wasn't going to let his mind games get to me. "I did nothing wrong. I used everything you taught me. You should know since I took out Zimmer I was never the same and I had to make some decisions without you and go on _without you_. Other than that I was a good partner to you, wasn't I?"

"Almost too good." He turned on his heel and stepped on the railing. He turned and looked me one last time. "I will see you again, and that is a promise." And he jumped off, grappling to the next tower and disappeared.

I felt like there was a hole in my stomach watching him fly off. I hoped Bruce or Dick didn't see or hear a thing. If they knew about this this would keep me from going back on the streets.

Jason was after me now. I had what girls called a frenemy. Jason would always have a special place in my heart but now he had a dark place in my mind.

_**I finally got to a point where I could put The Red Hood/Jason in the present tense! Thanks to those who are hanging in there with this!**_


	9. Healing of Harms

**Four Months Later**

April was in full swing and the rain those days did not stop. Gotham had flood watches for two weeks and The Batman was out every night patrolling almost until dawn. He allowed me to man the computers and communications while he was out now that Nightwing was back in Bludhaven and Barbara was back to college. The Batman was more concerned with the high levels of water being taken in and the sewers flooding that Killer Croc was going to be making more public appearances.

I did my job, allowing insomnia to take over and learn to be a creature of the night again. It still didn't get the monkey off my back about going out on again. Jason didn't scare me anymore. I shouldn't be scared of my maker, I knew all his moves, and I knew everything about him as he did about me. The Batman returned to the cave around four in the morning. I waited until he got out of the car and out of the Bat suit. "Bruce, I want to go out."

I didn't think he knew what I meant because he said, "Then call Dick or Barb, maybe Tim."

"No. I meant patrol."

Bruce stood still and then looked at me, "How long has it been, Lorelei?"

"Seven months. I have only five and then our deal means nothing."

He walked back to the car and pulled out box from the passenger seat. It was another medium sized box with Wayne Technologies written all over it. He handed it to me and I opened it up.

What pulled out of the box made me the happiest I had been in years. It was a suit, one that looked like my old one, a blue hood, brand spankin' new combat boots, my old leather jacket and heavier gauntlets. "Are you serious?" I nearly squealed.

Bruce grinned. "I was totally against it but you kept bugging me about going back on the street that I worked something out with Lucius to recreate everything but with some modifications, like new protective plates."

"I don't know how to thank you!"

"Easy. Tomorrow night I need a bit of help scouring the city for Killer Croc. You up to it?"

"Hell yeah I am! Wait, what about my weapons?"

"No guns. You play by my rules."

I wasn't thrilled about his rules but I understood why he had them. They really didn't need to apply to me. I had already made a kill and have gone off to the dark side, but I hoped that through me he could see that there was a way to deal with it.

I remembered something suddenly from the past when Bruce interrogated me. "I have a name now!"

"Well shoot."

"Elasion."

"Elasion? 'Have mercy'? Really?"

"Well it would be a sin to call myself Kyrie. Blasphemy."

**Later**

Elasion, never afraid of heights, watched the flooded streets in lower Gotham from various roofs keeping tight contact with The Batman who was hip deep in the filthy water. She would see Croc move first and give him the heads up. Elasion was still on the alert in case The Red Hood reappeared. She managed to sneak out of the cave a small handgun along with a grapple.

It was four in the morning and there was no sign of Killer Croc. The Batman was shutting down for the night, Elasion didn't want to leave but she had to follow his rules. At least it is not forever, she thought. On the ride back she had a few burning questions she wanted to ask Bruce, especially why was he now letting her follow him in the night.

"So what does this make me?" she started.

"What?"

"Like does this make me your partner or what?" She really didn't want to be his partner.

"Depends on what you want it to be? Ally?"

Lorelei didn't want to be a partner any more than she wanted to be back with The Red Hood. She appreciated the generosity but wanted no more association with The Batman. She was too different from the Batclan. She nodded no. "I want to work on my own."

"Understandable."

"One more question."

"Yes?"

"Why now? There had to be a better reason to keep me from the streets for so long."

Bruce paused and thought for a moment. "I was more concerned about your life. I hunted down Jason to figure out who you were because I was getting nothing but blank spaces. That night didn't go so well. He knew I had you and he was furious to say the least."

"So it was a matter of safety? Bruce, I know him just as much as you do. I could take him on. I left him in the fire. I can take care of myself. I won't let him kill me."

"He wouldn't kill you. He wanted to get even. He combed through the city looking for you and kept after me and Dick while doing so. His activities have been quiet for a while. I knew you wanted to stop being in the manor and get out, I just had to make sure with you were mentally stable enough and he wasn't going to interfere."

She held on to his words but also felt underestimated. She was not Jason, she had reformed. It was a rock road to get there and she was going to make mistakes. Lorelei was glad for his help the last few months but wanted to remind him, "There are things you can't change, Bruce. You should've know that when you took Jason on. The streets and making a kill changes people, sometimes in ways you will never know. Not all of us were lucky like you, Dick, or even Tim and had someone to have a leash on our desire to right the wrongs like I have, or Jason."

Lorelei would not tell Bruce about New Year's Eve and the promise Jason made to her. The flood waters were lowering and he felt that they needed a night off. Lorelei didn't feel the same way. That night was a tease and she wanted more of Gotham's nightlife.

_This night has only just begun._

_If there's discretion that you've not abandoned now it the time._

Collected her suit and took it to her room and went through every stitch and thread making sure Bruce didn't have any gadgets or tracking devices embedded. She was going out that night on her own, she didn't care about his rules or that Jason was looking for her. Lorelei wanted to get out on the rooftops and hit crime alley again and resume her work. She called up Dick and explained to him what she was doing, minus the Jason part, so she would have an alibi in case she was to get caught out of the manor. Dick understood why and consented, even offered a place to stay with him in case her plans didn't fall through. She was glad she could count on him.

Lorelei quietly turned the Batcave upside down looking for her baretta and her knife; she found them, hidden in of all places, under the computer desk. Lorelei quickly braided her hair, suited up and put on her hood. She managed to sneak out of the estate without triggering any of the security measures and ran to the city a few miles away.

**Lorelei's POV**

Jumping from rooftop to rooftop was like riding a bicycle. Taking out a couple crooks felt like heaven with every punch. I was happy again.

I didn't care if The Batman caught me or if I did meet up with Jason again, I was on cloud nine.

I ran around for less than an hour when I found myself near the remnants of my past. First it was an empty lot where I last saw Jason before I went rogue on him. I didn't feel a damn thing there so I moved on.

Park Row.

I grew up here, lived and 'died' here. The good died young here.

I walked up the street to the building where my sister, father and I once lived. I hadn't been there despite being not far away with Jason since Samantha was killed. The front door had a notice from the city stating that the place was condemned but it didn't stop anyone seeing that the door chains were long broken. I let myself in and saw that the place was inhabited by some of the homeless and drug abusers. They all ran and cowered from me but I ignored them. I didn't even know why I was there but I felt a nagging need to go to my first home. Other than the appearance I walked around as if I had never left.

Up eight flights of stair and down a hall where the paint on the walls was either chipped, peeling, had bullet holes, old blood or graffiti I came to my old door, number eight two seven. The door had another piece of paper on it and ancient traces of police tape. The door was locked but with a decent body slam it changed.

I had a flood of feelings, conflicting ones, rush over me as I saw what time had done to our little apartment. I had flashbacks in third person of memorable family moments. The time I learned violin, the little gathering we had when my sister completed Confirmation, the time my sister and I found my father passed out on the floor after having a little too much fun on the Fourth of July….then there were the other flashbacks that haunted me every time I closed my eyes to sleep.

There were still massive blood stains where Samantha died, furniture over turned and decaying, and glass shards from where The Red Hood entered all over the floor. The kitchen floor where the police pinned my father down and read him his rights after being arrested for a crime he didn't commit and I stood there helpless next to Samantha, crying as he told us both that he loved us and that he promised he was going to come back.

I looked to the wall and saw that there was a broken picture frame still hanging there covered in dust and decay. I wiped the dust off and saw that it was a picture of us when I was seven. My father went through a beard phase back then and my sister, seventeen then, had her hair colored blue. I laughed at it and cried. This was the last image of I had of them.

I felt like they were there with me and I felt the need to apologize to them. "I'm sorry, Dad. I'm sorry, Sam. I wasn't strong enough to save you. I'm sorry if you are ashamed of me. But I will do right by both of you. I will make you proud."

I heard a scream from the outside. A child's scream. I pulled out the picture and tucked it away in my jacket, jumped out the window and pulled down the fire escape ladder landing on my feet. In the alley was a dark figure, a female body and a little boy. The dark figure advanced on the little boy, who couldn't have been any older than ten. I sprinted and kicked the figure in the back of the head knocking him down in front of the kid who squealed in fear. I walked next to the figure and nudged his side with my foot, it groaned so I kicked him in the side one more time. I checked on the kid who didn't look like he was hurt and then the female body for a pulse. She was alive thank goodness, probably had some head trauma. I looked at the boy who starred with a frightened expression at what appeared to be a sister or young mother. I put my hand on his shoulder, "She is going to be alright." I went through her pockets on her jeans and pulled out her damaged cell phone. I really hoped that the battery wasn't dead or dying. When I flipped it open I was thrilled to see that the keypad still worked and promptly dialed 911. I gave the dispatcher the place and what happened closed the phone, gave it to the kid, picked the scumbag by his shirt and dragged him away.

I took him to the next alley and threw some water from a nearby puddle in his face to wake him up. He looked up at me in fear. I felt pretty damn powerful at that moment. "You pull that shit again," I pulled out my baretta and shot him in both his knees, "it will be your spine."

_**I know, I know I posted a fluff chapter again, but now we got Lorelei/Elasion's evolution almost full circle. R&R please. **_


	10. Godspeed

When I returned to the cave Bruce was sitting in a chair waiting for me; I was in trouble. I didn't care. It was two in the morning and I had a roller coaster of a night, I was ready for whatever he had in for me. If he says I can no longer go back on patrol what makes him think I won't sneak out again? I just said hi and he starts, "I know what you did. Gordon called on the guy you shot destroying any chance of him walking again."

"So Gordon knows about me?" I asked in the same sardonic tone that I picked up from my years with Jason, but boy I knew I was in trouble.

"Yes. You put me in a difficult place, Lorelei."

"And what place is that?" I asked.

He didn't answer, but I could feel him staring me down with his infamous glare that needed no words.

"So what are _you_ going to do?" I asked. "Bruce, I don't want to kill, but I have in the past and I have changed because of that. I won't kill now, not readily at least. Killing is the easy way out for most of the scum of the planet to escape a true punishment. It is better to make them suffer, to live with their crimes."

"That is not how it works. We capture and corner letting the police and the justice system handle the rest."

I had to laugh at him just a little. "You really think the system works? How many times has Joker gotten loose? What about Dent? Catwoman? The system is a cluster-fuck with too many technicalities and hell, they don't even work. The system punishes the innocent out there by allowing any criminal to have any chance of getting loose. They condemned the innocent, I should know, I have watched it!"

Bruce stayed silent after I made my speech. I hated this system he worked for so much. I had to let him know it once and for all. "I'm not going to be your partner nor Jason's so your rules mean very little to me."

"I am even more obligated to turn you in to the police, but I keep my word. You will not go out on any patrols until your time here is done. Your movements outside of the manor will be monitored." When Bruce commanded you listened, but I didn't bother. He rabbled on, "If I so much as catch you out in Gotham I will have no choice but provide equal treatment as I would to any rogue. That is a promise." Long story short I was going to get beat to a pulp. Lovely.

I had a threat from Jason that I had lurking in my mind and now I had Bruce's promise which seemed more like an invitation to tango with The Bat.

"That's all you're gonna do? Why keep me around in this pseudo-prison?" I asked.

Bruce turned to face me then away at what I knew was Jason's old Robin costume in memorium. I go the point slightly. He wanted to make sure he didn't screw up again.

"If it makes you feel better, Bruce, you didn't fuck up too much. I'm not dead because of you. That counts for something. Now I live to fight another day."

I left the cave and walked with a new air of confidence to my room. I only had five months left in my sentence in the Wayne manor but I couldn't wait to escape. I kept my suit and gun near me. I ridded it of any of his technologies and left it in his study. I planned a gradual escape as I relaxed for sleep. My violin, medallion and picture I found in the apartment were my only true possessions. I had to move them in the daylight to a safe place so when I made my great escape I wouldn't be weighed down. I called Dick and asked if I could visit, that I needed to blow off some steam to which he seemed sympathetic and allowed it. I liked Dick but this boy was a fool or I was a damn good actress.

As I laid my head to sleep I conjured my plan to let the two men, Bruce and Jason, hear me and learn their place in my scheme of things even if I had no clue what the big picture was.

**The Next Day**

I arrived in Bludhaven thanks to Alfred. I ditched the violin case and carefully placed my instrument in my messenger bag hoping that it would go unnoticed. I told Bruce I was visiting Dick for the day, pretending to be pissed at him and that talking to Dick blew off steam. I planned to do some of that but my real motive was to get ready to escape within the week. I could trust Dick and knew if I told him everything he would not betray me. If he did, well, next time I will let some giant humanoid monster kill him.

Bludhaven was not the best but Dick's loft was pretty uppy yuppy; it had to be occupied by the rich. Never the less I tried to blend in as I walked past the doorman and up the twelve flights of stairs. Why stairs? Elevators, no matter how big, made me feel like I was in a sardine can-sized death trap, no matter how safe.

Dick opened the door and greeted me with a warm hello. He was nice enough to wake up early from a late night of patrols just for a visit. "So what brings you out to this other form of hell?" he asked.

I laughed, "You call this hell?"

"It's not much of a step up or down from Gotham. So what did the boss say that made you come out here? Wait, I know the answer. His need for control, right?"

I shrugged.

"He told me about what you did the other night. I know I wouldn't have pulled the trigger but I did point out to him that you didn't kill the guy and that is what counts."

I sat down on the leather couch. "Yeah but he didn't seem to think so."

"It's just Bruce. He always has to have control. Sometimes I think he is the leader of the JL than Clark or J'onn."

"Jason used to be just as controlling before our last showdown. How did you handle it?"

"I left. That was all there was to it."

"I see."

Dick sat down in a recliner next to Lorelei. "What is this really about, Lor?"

I knew I could tell him but I had to be sure he wasn't going to snitch on me. "You won't tell a soul?" He nodded leaning forward as if to listen intently. "I'm leaving."

"You have less than five months under his rules, why now?"

"Does it matter? After the other night he pretty much made a promise that if he saw me out in the night ever again he would have no choice but to turn me in. If he thinks I'm going to stop what I have been doing after that he has to be an idiot, and we both know he isn't. Either way I would be another addition to The Rogue's Gallery. I need to go out and figure out who and what I stand for and where my place is. I can't do that under his or Jason's thumb."

"I guess I see where you are coming from. But why tell me, why not act last night?"

I pulled the violin out of the bag and laid it on the coffee table between us, then medallion off my neck and finally the family picture I had. "This is all I have, Dick. I know they are merely objects and in the scheme of things they mean nothing to my work and jeopardize my safety but this is what drives me to do what I do. This violin is what keeps me sane and is what I have left of my father, the medallion is what I have left of my sister and the picture, well, you know, the last happy time I had with them. They are my motivation now."

Dick sat there still looking intently serious. "What do you need from me?"

"I need to know that these are safe here, while I make my prison break in a few days."

"Of course." I was surprised that he accepted. I wanted to give him a hug but I wanted to keep this professional. Then he asked, "But what are you going to do about Bruce? And Jason?"

I showed him the note Jason left with the violin. "He was at the New Year's party in the shadows. Bruce also told me why he wouldn't let me follow him on patrol. We do have some unfinished business. I can't predict what Jason will do."

I had accomplished what I set out to do and I didn't feel like overstaying my welcome. "I want to thank you, Dick. You are still a mild annoyance at times but I consider you a quasi-ally."

He smiled. "I assume this is where we acknowledge that we will be playing a game of cat and mouse since you are technically a criminal and a hardcore vigilante, Elasion."

"Yep and I look forward to playing the game until one of us is dead."

"In that case, Godspeed."

When I got back to the manor I walked down to the cave and prepared for my escape, but I had to leave of a note of finality first.

_Bruce,_

_I want to thank you for all you have done, but I cannot abide by the rules you have when it comes to fighting Gotham's pieces of shit. I don't want to be controlled on my own missions to really help this city, especially as a promise to my family. I'm sure you can understand. I do not see a point in staying especially since the promise you made also applies to whatever I do after my year under your control and the system you work under. I do not belong in your world._

_Lorelei._

**Later**

Confronting Jason at night was interesting to say the least. There was some obvious hurt still left between us that later escalated to bruises and lacerations. That was how it worked with our way of fighting crime and each other, shoot first and ask later. It was a long bout of combat between us, but finally it died down seeing we were both dead even in strength and skill. We were huffing and trying to catch our breath in one of the dark alleys in Gotham, sitting on the asphalt opposite of each other. "What do you want, Lor?" he started

"We need to talk, Jason, just a few things of business."

"Alright, what is first on the agenda?" he asked, spitting some blood in the process.

"Apologies."

Jason took off his helmet and stared right at me. "Okay, what for? Blaming me for your identity crisis or leaving me for dead after said blame game?"

He always had to have that snark. I nodded, "Among other things."

"Whatever, Lor. I warned you what killing, specifically for revenge, would do to you. However for almost killing me, I will forgive you for that."

I nodded. Jason would never let some things go, that was how he lived. Old habits die hard.

"Anything else?" he asked, obviously annoyed.

"I am leaving Gotham for good."

"That is what everyone says."

"Well I mean it."

He looked at me closer, "If I may, and indulge me for a moment, what makes you think you can leave Gotham behind you forever?"

I slowly got myself up. "I need to figure some things out, like the big picture. I need to figure out what the hell I'm doing and what I'm really fighting for. After the Zimmer thing, I was confused and angry. Call it soul searching or whatever."

Jason got up and brushed the street grime off of him. "Whatever kid, you do what you gotta do." He walked away out of the alley.

"I'll be back!" I shouted at him.

Jason just waved me off. I wished things had gone better, but it was what it was.

That was the last time I would see him and Gotham for a very very long time.


End file.
